| <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in | | | | move through your paper quickly and with interest, and |
| } --> | | | | save his red pen and corrections for another student. |
| "Hello, I am a high school junior or senior preparing to | | | | Which brings me to my next point... |
| enter college. I am afraid my writing skills are not up to | | | | 1. |
| par with what would be considered adequate at the | | | | Shorter is usually better. It is much easier to become |
| college level. I am wondering what things I can do to | | | | entangled in grammatical nuances the longer the |
| improve my writing skills?" | | | | sentence grows. Keep sentences short, descriptive |
| Tina M. | | | | and logically flowing from one to the next. If you like to |
| Carbondale, IL | | | | write long sentences, go through and break them up- |
| This is a common concern for senior students and | | | | usually at the points where clauses begin and end |
| incoming freshmen at colleges and universities. | | | | (places where you would put a comma or a |
| Everyday, teachers tell me that writing skills are at an | | | | semicolon, you can instead put a period and make a |
| all time low. term paper assignments, which call for | | | | new sentence!). |
| highly organized, well researched and logical writing are | | | | 1. |
| proving too demanding for students who have not | | | | Outline for greater clarity, and to move you along |
| been properly instructed in writing basics. | | | | when you get stuck. Many students overlook the the |
| So, with that in mind, early college students should NOT | | | | critical place of the outline in formulating and executing |
| be overly concerned, from a competitive standpoint, | | | | the composition of a term paper. But they shouldn't- it |
| that their writing skills will not be on par with that of | | | | is fairly easy to tell the difference between a |
| their peers. Even an eager, novice writer who | | | | thoughtful paper written with the help of an outline and |
| energetically employs words but who has grammatical | | | | one thrown together to meet a certain page |
| errors might be no worse than average in such a | | | | requirement. Just as each paragraph should have an |
| diluted college environment. The writing is simply so | | | | introduction, body and conclusion, the paper itself must |
| bad that you don't absolutely need to improve in that | | | | be introduced with a story, anecdote or interesting fact |
| area. | | | | that grips the readers and acts as a lead-in to a brief |
| On the other hand, what a wonderful opportunity this | | | | description of the points covered. |
| dearth of writing knowledge is for an ambitious student | | | | 4. Remember that there is such a thing as a rough |
| to get ahead by differentiating himself in this area. If | | | | draft. Just because you can start typing instantly |
| you are one of those, then here are some tips that I | | | | doesn't mean you should hit the keyboard right away. |
| constantly reinforce with members of my own term | | | | Lay out your points methodically like you did in the |
| paper writing staff. | | | | outline, but you can also use note cards or another |
| 1. | | | | method and write one important point on each card, |
| Specific is terrific. Use the most descriptive words and | | | | moving them around until you get everything just right. |
| phrases you can.This will help your reader hold a clear | | | | There are many different ways to write a paper, and |
| picture in his or her head of what you are writing | | | | you need to take extra time to find out which way is |
| about. If your reader is a professor, then you only get | | | | right for you. |
| one chance at this! And you want your professor to | | | | |